Happy 2019

I have been sewing EPP butterflies from my scraps for a year now and using quilt as you go I am slowly getting them into a quilt. Close up of one....I do love quilting feathers.

This is sort of how it will look. The littlest one is made with 1/4 in hexies....hence only one!

This is my next project I think. The cream on top is actually a greeny yellow, so I can use some more scraps.

A friend showed me this and then loaned me the pattern. One Bali Pop  and some black later my first ( and probably last) attempt at Bargello. Still have to put the antenna on and then contemplate the quilting. So many seams that it may go to my friendly quilter!Love it though and am very happy with how it turned out.

May 2019 be a year of health and happiness for us all.

It's been a while

Sunday saw a few of us at The Quilt Shop in Eltham for a Sewlicious day. This was a kit we were given and could do that day or later. I did some on Sunday and finished it off last night... well it needs stuffing.

We also got in our goody bag some thread , trim, a thinble ( not sure where that has gone) a stitch unpicker ( mine broke but Sam donated hers to me... thanks Sam) and the scissors and tape measure. Pretty happy.

We then played pass the parcel and I was the lucky winner on our table( we all got something but this was the ultimate) the fat quarter wrapped up the book by Kaffe Fassett. There are some amazing quilts in there... love the one on the front, and there are about 4 more I'd like to do.

It wasn't until I got home and really looked at the signature on the book, that I realised it was actually signed by Kaffe , not just printed on there.

Leanne of Leanne's Quilting service gave a brief but informative chat about quilting which was great. She is a true artist.

Alison and Sharon, and Alison's mum in law, served up sponges for morning tea, quiche and salad followed by fruit for lunch, and slices for afternoon tea. It was a truly amazing day, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone there so thank you girls for another wonderful time.

And another one bites the dust

Whirly gig by Emma Jean Jansen. Scraps for the whirly gigs and border. Love the way it's turned out.

Feathers... think I get them.This is the swirls that thought for itself so I added a butterfly as I do!

More feathers...

... some swirls and wishbones. Do love the latter. I managed to do all but one of the swirls in the direction I had planned but one just had to be different and went it's own way. (see above)Ah well a design variation. Wrangled this through my Janome 6600 , it's now done and tomorrow is being given to DD1's maid of honour. 

Been busy

My poor little Janome was making some very funny noises and not sewing so well..... after a good clean, taking out the compacted fluff it was a much happier little machine. I know, I hang my head in shame and vow to clean both machines more often.

Had a class in Wandong and this was the result.Looks more complicated than it is and thanks to Annika for starting this ball rolling. She made a couple at retreat and we all loved them so jumped on the bandwagon.

This really is so easy and while these don't look as stuning I think they still work and they use up some more of my fabric. The very pink one will go to IQ once it's quilted.These were made over the weekend, just need a couple of small borders.

I have also been prctising my fmq on a baby quilt for DH's nephew and his wife who expect baby no 3 in Nov. Loving how it's turning out. I was 4 inches from finishing one border last night when we lost power so I sewed in a few thread ends by candle and torchlight. Not easy , those pioneer women were amazing. Off to finish the last two borders on the baby quilt and then I can start on another... a niece is expecting in Feb. Plenty of time.

Brisbane catch up

I have been practicing my FMQ on some items for In2quilting and this is a selection. Managed to get them all finished before flying off to some sunshine.... Qld and my DD2

Caught up with the lovely Michelle of Ragtagstitching... visit her blog if you want to see our smiling faces over a delicious Devonshire tea.Michelle took me to a huge warehouse full of fabrics and these few items whispered gently in my ear" buy me buy me"so I did. I am sure that the baby fabric will come in handy eventually.

Also treated myself to a magazine... withdrawal symptoms as I didn't get to stitch while I was away.

Think I gave a sneak peak) at this a while ago. I got this panel from Shabby Fabrics ( well I got 2 actually,hmm wonder why?)and mad it into a quilt for DD2. gave it to her as she was getting a 3 seater and 1 seater ( call it a chair) couch delivered while we were there. This was for her to curl under when she was in her chair. She loved it and it wasn't something she was expecting. 

Hope you can see some of the feathers that I quilted. Mine is under the machine for when I get some time to quilt it.

Had a wonderful time with all the folks I caught up with and thanks to Jetstar we actually got another 24 hours in the Sunshine state. Yes our flight was cancelled two hours prior to departure and the next available was the next evening. Good job we were at private accomodation, but I had to cancel work!

quilt show

Thursday saw me at the quilt show.... did I look at the quilts? No. Did I spend too much money? Yes. Here are my purchases. Needles ( could have bought cheaper at the LQS) Bobbin keepers ( could have bought cheaper at LQS)new rotary cutter , bit kinder to the hands, two patterns that I didn't need but hey , a quilting template ( already used) some spool nets ( lost the packet I bought about a month ago) do you see a pattern, and a Dream Big Hoffman panel. The last was extravagant but they are so beautiful, Look them up and you will see what I mean. Ran into lots of people that I hadn't seen for ages as well which was a bonus.

The real reason I went was because in Oct last year I visited QLD and went to their show. At Patchworks Unlimited stall I saw a pattern that I had bought ages ago and lost. On telling the girls, they just gave me a replacement. I told them that if I found the original I would return it. Well......... two weeks ago I found the original and so I returned the unused replacement one to Patchworks Unlimited. Lovely that they did what they did but I'm glad to have returned the other. Also found out on Sunday that there is to be another grandniece or nephew so as this pattern was for a baby quilt it's been found just in time.

Angela Walters FMQ challenge

I took this quilt to retreat in May to get the top ready, only to discover that I had cut the triangles around the squares incorrectly. If I'd used them the way they were... 15 of the coloured squares would have gone one way and one the other. This has been made using scraps so the triangles were cut from the backing of my candlewicked quilt, which is a tone on tone. I knew I had used every last bit so no more could be cut. The only solution was to flip them so the back became the front and vice versa. I'm an idiot but it's not that noticeable. This is the quilt used in Angela Walter's free motion quilt challenge so I dutifully quilted each block as she showed on the you tube videos.

This square is my favourite.... paisley meanders in half and straight(cough) in the other half. I also did feathers around these blocks.., so two rows with feathers and two with again straight(cough) lines or dot to dot.

Another close up of some of the blocks. Overall I am pretty chuffed with myself and the quilting, feel much more confident to tackle FMQ now. The recipient of this doesn't quilt and hopefully will love it. Now to tackle the next butterfly quilt and the list goes on.